Troubled Times
by Kegel
Summary: They had not expected anything to happen here and now. They had been wrong. And now Sara’s growing desperate to save Greg’s life, and her happiness. SaraGreg
1. Prologue

_**Troubled Times**_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI or any of its characters._

_**Rating: **T_

_**A/N: **This is the fourth story in a "series", following 'Hidden Damages', 'Retrieval' and 'Attachment', but I think it's readable as a stand-alone story as well. _

_Thanks to Emmithar for betareading! _

_**Summary: **They had not expected anything to happen here and now. They had been wrong. And now Sara's growing desperate to save Greg's life, and her happiness. SaraGreg_

* * *

_**Prologue**_

Sara took a deep breath, closing her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to suppress the tears. She had to get herself together, for Greg, she just had to. She looked around in the faint light that was coming from the distant city. The desert seemed empty, was empty.

Sara turned back to Greg again, next to whom she was kneeling. He was trembling and barely conscious. His forehead was running hot under Sara's hand. Greg had been fine only some hours ago, so Sara could not believe that he had turned this ill all of a sudden. There was only one explanation for it in her mind. And it scared her, terrified her was more like it.

She had called for help long ago, but nobody had come yet. Maybe it was just that nobody had found them yet. They had not even walked very far away from the crime scene and Sara knew for sure how to get back there; it was not like they were lost. But she was not willing to walk back and leave Greg alone. Maybe it would be her only chance though to make sure that help arrived in time.

She had long given up trying to convince Greg to muster the strength to walk back by himself. He was in no state to do so anymore. The only thing she could do for him was soothe him, wishing at the same time that there was somebody who would calm her, for Sara felt utterly alone and helpless, afraid that she could only wait and watch Greg dying.

She had made sure that he was lying somewhat comfortably, had covered him with her jacket to keep him warm, and was still looking back into the direction where they had come from what seemed hours ago, in hopes rescue would finally arrive.

Sara did not take her eyes of Greg for long though. She took in his features that were tense, but still alive at least. When he moaned, she ran her hand through his hair, calling his name soothingly.

All the happiness she had felt lately seemed to be like a distant memory. But she did not want to believe that all this would come to an end. She would not let this happen. But Sara did not really know what she could do to prevent it, to help Greg, to save him.

They should not even have come here. There had been a warning. Well, kind of a warning. Even if it had been so unspecific that Greg had held the view that he could not put his whole life on hold because of it. But coming out here had been a mistake. Only they had not expected anything to happen here and now.

Sara glanced around once again, but once again the only thing she could see were the colorful distant lights of Las Vegas and the loneliness of the desert. Sara was biting on her lips, shutting her eyes, hoping to make the tears stop. Crying would not help at all. She could not go and cry in front of Greg. She could not act as if he was already dead. There was still hope.

Now she was not looking back at him, but took his hand firmly. When she finally turned around to him again, the tears were gone and she looked at him smiling, for she saw that he was awake again.

"You're going to be alright," she ensured him.

Greg's eyebrows twitched. "I'll just trust that you're right," he said quietly, and Sara nodded hopefully.


	2. Guesses

_**It wasn't my intention to take so long with posting chapter one, but as I mentioned in my last 'Something Happens' chapter, I've been battling writer's block lately.  
Thanks for the reviews. And, uhm…, we're going back in time for now, so that nobody is confused ;)**_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Guesses**

_**Earlier**_

Greg yawned. It was certainly not out of boredom for they were busy enough, but because he was tired. He did not even try to hide it from Sara whose amused eyebrows raising he could see out of the corner of his eyes.

"I'm just tired," he grumbled, rubbing his eyes, before he looked at the clock at the wall.

Their shift had still not progressed very far. It was going to be a long night.

"I didn't say anything," Sara returned, glancing down at the papers in front of her again.

"But you implied it," Greg complained, yawning again. He wished they would actually simply go over paperwork. It would at least give him the opportunity to have a cup of coffee in his reach while it was a big no-no with them handling evidence.

"So? In which part of my silence did you read that?" his girlfriend wanted to know, standing up to take a box of evidence from the table at the other side of the room, bringing it over to her seat.

While he would usually enjoy some teasing with Sara, Greg was having trouble to focus at all this night, so he remained silent now, grimacing then.

"I guess I'm too tired for that," he admitted.

"Well, hopefully you're not too tired for work," Sara returned dryly, starting to compare the list she was holding with the items contained in the evidence box. She was focused on doing that while Greg watched her for a moment, before he continued working as well. He stopped again after a minute though.

"Was that a call on the carpet?" he asked carefully. Sara frowned, checking the last item on her list, before she walked around the table, leaning next to Greg to look at what he was doing. Greg smiled at her nervously, knowing she would not do anything inappropriate at work, but enjoying her closeness all the same.

"Don't worry so much, Greg," she told him quietly. "I'd tell you if something was wrong."

Greg nodded silently, trying to focus on his work in front of him. . "So, what's wrong with this case?" He glanced at Sara again who was still hovering next to him.

"I think we have to focus on the motive." She looked at him, expectantly.

"Grissom would say," Greg pointed out, turning to her, leaning on the table, "that we're not about the motive, but about the evidence." Greg wondered why he felt the need to quote Grissom here. While he had certainly learned a lot from his boss, he had done so from Sara as well, and Grissom was not always right either.

"I say that because what if the killer throws the murder weapon into the sea? We'd never be able to retrieve it-"

"Vegas isn't exactly close to the ocean," Greg noticed.

Sara narrowed her eyes. "It's hypothetical."

"I know," Greg smiled. "I was just messing with you."

Sara brushed it off, going on, "He showers, trashes the clothes, makes sure there's no blood, no GSR left."

"Motive still wouldn't help us, since there's no motive safe for the killing itself, so there's no connection to the killer," Greg shrugged, leaning onto the table.

"I just wanted to point out that only looking at the forensics is not always going to lead to the killer; it's not always enough." Sara stood up again, walking around Greg to a box on the other side of it. "But we can look at what we have, and see if we can find a clue to the motive in there." She lifted the box, putting in on the table. "That's what we brought back from the scene last night…" She emptied the box, putting several bags of evidence in front of Greg who glanced back and forth between them and Sara.

Sara had noticed that he was tired of course, but actually she had gotten just as little sleep as he had. Living together had made sure that they learned everything about each other's sleeping habits and Greg had been more and more surprised how little Sara was actually sleeping, even on a regular schedule, when they were not pulling any doubles.

Greg took one of the bags from the pile, opening it with gloved hands.

"That's really…" he trailed off, leaning over the table to get the bag Sara had checked earlier. She watched while he rummaged in it, smiling lightly to herself. She loved how he could get into a case once he found a clue.

"Here," he said suddenly excitedly. "I knew I had seen this."

"What?"

Greg held a card in front of Sara's eyes with the back of the card towards her so that she could only see that it was a card in the size of a playing card with a strange motive at the back. He turned it around slowly, showing her that the picture on the other side was the tarot death card, causing Sara to lift her eyebrows.

"So, where did you get this from?" she questioned a sniggering Greg.

"Content of vic's pocket," Greg read aloud the label of the evidence bag he was holding and Sara recognized Nick's handwriting.

"So you think because he got that card," Sara emphasized the last two words, "he died?" Her incredulity spoke clearly out of her tone.

"Don't tell me you think that too?" Greg asked, obviously thrilled. Sara gave him a stern look, before Greg went on to empty another bag on the table, this time belonging to the other case, pulling an identical looking card out of it. "I knew I had seen this before."

Sara looked surprised for a moment, before she frowned.

"Ehm, Greg. Last night's victim drowned in his bath tube while the other one was shot. It wasn't some card that killed them."

"I didn't say it did," Greg pointed out, looking playfully outraged.

Sara was laughing at him quietly. Her thoughts went to the plans she had. She had been thinking about it for a while, wondering and doubting if it was a good idea, but had until now come to the point that she thought it to be.

Greg shrugged. "But the cards are there, you know."

Sara nodded at Greg's statement, returning from her non-work-related thoughts to the task at hand. "They are," she said slowly, wondering only for a moment about possible explanations for it. It was not what they were looking for though, there had to be another clue.

Greg looked at her inquiringly. "Do you want to take a break? You look like you need one."

"It's rather you who needs one, loser," Sara remarked, but put down the file she was holding while Greg stood up.

"I can't believe you can be awake with so little sleep," he complained, while Sara dragged him out of the room. She let go of him once they were out in the hallway, looking around for a moment if she could see any of her co-workers.

"I just can," she shrugged. "And it was actually you who kept us up."

"Where do you want to go?" Greg distracted, his stomach grumbling audible.

"It's not like every place has open 24 hours…"

* * *

The quiet sound from a radio was almost the only thing one could hear at the place at that time of the night. Only from time to time sounded the talks from the staff through the room where Greg and Sara were sitting. Greg looked at the menu in his hand, watched by Sara whose gaze became more and more questioning. 

"Have you finally picked something?" she wanted to know.

"Well, I'd like to try all that stuff," Greg murmured, an embarrassed grin on his face when he saw Sara's expression.

"Our break doesn't last forever Greg…" It was not like it really mattered, since they would work overtime anyway, but she was not in the mood to explain a two-hours-absence to anybody, and it would probably take that long, if she did not tell Greg to hurry up a bit.

"Almost there…" he said slowly.

"Greg, it's not like we're here for the last time. You can try the other stuff the next time," Sara pointed out.

"True." Greg was still looking at the menu while Sara smiled.

"You're smiling," he stated, but there was somewhat of a question in it.

"Pick your meal," she told him impatiently.

Later when they were eating, Greg was just taking a gulp from his second cup of coffee, when Sara asked him suddenly, "What do you think about us both taking a day or two off?"

Greg looked up from his plate. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sara ensured him quickly. "Actually everything's alright, I just thought we could spend some time together off from work…"

"You're sure nothing is wrong?" Greg insisted, having stopped eating.

Sara frowned, shaking her head, and Greg pointed at his food.

"This tastes odd," he grimaced, shoving his plate aside and glancing thoughtfully at the menu that was lying on the other side of the table.

"You chose it, you know."

"Yeah. So I'll ask Grissom for a day off then?" Greg emptied his cup of coffee, rejoicing in the knowledge that he had still some of his own stored at the lab.

"Ask for two."

Greg grinned at her, and Sara knew that she loved him.

**TBC**


	3. Speculations

_**Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! They encourage me to write more (and hopefully faster); I've actually waited with this chapter for like two days to see if this site resumes sending out alerts but as it is not foreseeable when this will happen, I'm posting now. I hope you'll still see that there's a new chapter ;) **_

_**Thanks to Emmithar for the beta!**_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Speculations**

Greg opened his eyes a crack, closing them again after a moment, shifting slightly in the bed and snuggling into his pillow both tiredly and contently. He reached out with his arm, feeling around Sara's waist and drew himself closer to her so that he was lying behind her, she sleeping tightly.

Greg snoozed happily, until the obnoxious sound of their alarm-clock was jerking him out of this. He groaned quietly, rolling around to shut the sound off. Then he turned back to Sara, intending to nestle into the pillows again, but Sara sat up, getting out of his touch and Greg opened his eyes disappointedly, watching Sara climbing out of the bed.

"Was just so nice," he complained, drawing his blanket further up to his shoulders to keep at least some of the warmth in.

"We have to get up," Sara returned mercilessly, walking off to their bathroom as Greg guessed. He shut his eyes again, trying to enjoy some more minutes of lying in bed. It seemed to be only mere seconds later that Sara came back.

"If you don't get up now, we'll have to leave without having dinner," she warned him, and he heard her opening the wardrobe, searching for clothes.

"Can grab something at the lab," Greg mumbled into his pillow. Sara was silent and he did not hear her making any sounds anymore either so Greg assumed that she had left him behind in the bedroom. She would probably be back soon, certainly not leaving without him.

What he did not expect though - and it was surprising that he did not startle - was her stroking his hair suddenly, and breathing very closely next to his face. Greg smiled, opening his eyes and turning his head around to Sara who was leaning over the bed. She kissed him briefly, then drawing back a little.

"Will you get up now?"

Greg smiled up to her. This was what he wanted to see every day of his life. He reached out to her, luring her to come down to him again.

Sara touched him lightly on the chest. "Get up."

Then she turned around and walked away from the bed, going on to get dressed. Greg sat up, rubbing his eyes and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Sara was certainly always able to get him out of bed.

"Coffee's already brewing," she told him.

"Thank you," Greg returned gladly, walking over to her.

"I can't have you falling asleep at the lab." Sara handed him his favorite pair of pants out of the dresser and waited for him to decide on a shirt. "Hurry up, sleepy head."

"I'm on it." He grabbed a shirt and hurried off into the bathroom.

* * *

Greg walked out of the bathroom, shrugging.

"I didn't find anything. I dusted everything for prints, but there are mostly smudges."

Sara nodded, sitting crouched down on the floor, leaning down to look under the couch in the living room and letting her flashlight wander briefly under it. Looking up to Greg she saw David Philips walking in.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," he greeted them, walking over to the body that was lying in the middle of the room.

Sara smiled. "Actually it was us being early," she replied. "Despite Greg's difficulties to get out of bed."

"I like it there," Greg returned grumbling.

"I know that far too well," his girlfriend smiled at him, too.

"Anyway," David tried to get their attention, leaning over the body. "It looks like blunt force trauma to the head. There's a clear rectangular shape at the back of the head, probably from a heavy blow," he told them and Sara nodded, having seen the wound before.

While David was busy to transport the body of the man off, Sara continued looking around, pulling open the drawers of the desk now. Looking through the papers that were lying in one, an envelope that was addressed to the victim caught her attention.

She took it carefully out with a gloved hand and opened the unglued paper. It contained only one item which caused Sara at first to frown, and then to turn around and call Greg's name.

He came walking back into the room, holding his flashlight and blinding her with it on purpose for a moment.

"Greg!"

"Sorry," he grinned at her bashfully, knowing too well that this usually made her melt.

"You're not on a playground," Sara scolded him though, and Greg switched off the light quickly.

"What's up?" he wanted to know, shrugging.

Sara handed him the envelope she had found and he looked into it, his expression turning to surprise. He looked at Sara with raised eyebrows, holding the card that had been in the paper.

"Again?"

Sara nodded.

"Somebody sends them a death card and they die?" Greg questioned.

Sara mirrored his expression. "I'd rather say, somebody sends them the card, comes by later and kills them," she contradicted him. "It's the only way it makes sense. Unless it's a big coincidence."

"Yeah…" Greg nodded, looking at the spot where the body had been some minutes ago. "We should ask the others if they have also cases where they found such a card…" he suggested slowly.

Sara shrugged. "I'm not sure they'd pay attention to that. I guess I wouldn't have noticed either, if you hadn't pointed it out," she admitted. Greg smiled.

"That's why you have me."

Sara looked back at the drawers, hiding her smile.

"One of the many reasons I have you."

Greg chuckled. "I like being your partner," he said with an attitude that made Sara roll her eyes. "What's the point of those cards though?" He shrugged and Sara looked back at him. "I mean, if the vics don't know what it is about, they'll just shrug it off, most of them anyway. If they know what it means, it's a warning, or what?"

"I don't know," Sara replied slowly. "If the vics don't know what it is about, it doesn't really make sense to send it, does it?"

Greg shook his head, looking at the envelope in his hand. "It doesn't have a post stamp, so it's probably been delivered by the person who wrote it," he speculated. "It would make sense… so they'd be able to check out the house in advance and everything."

Sara nodded.

"I'm going to dust the mailbox," Greg said. "Maybe they touched it when they brought the letter."

"Do that," Sara agreed. "I'll finish up here."

Greg walked out, while Sara continued looking around the room, especially hoping to find a potential murder weapon. Then she spent a good while on collecting prints, hardly realizing the time moving on.

Greg was still not back and Sara started to wonder what took him so long to collect prints from a single mailbox and she doubted he had taken her declaration to finish up on the scene too literally and had taken off. He would not leave without her.

Sealing the last evidence bag and placing it into her kit, Sara walked out of the house into the darkness outside. Parked at the pavement was the patrol car of the officers who were securing the scene. The mailbox stood lonely and no Greg was in sight.

Sara frowned, walking around the house, when she finally saw Greg in the shine of her flashlight. He seemed to be stuck halfway in a bush, kneeling on the ground, only his legs and lower torso being visible. He moved back slightly, making indecipherable sounds.

"Greg, what are you doing?" Sara called, moving up to him quickly.

Greg came some more out of the plants, cursing lightly.

"I'm trying to take pictures," she could hear him saying, standing next to his legs by now.

"Of what?" she wanted to know, tapping him on the back so that he flinched briefly in surprise.

"Of very possible the murder weapon," Greg returned, moving back in full now, carefully trying to avoid being scratched by the plant. He was finally completely in front of Sara, holding his camera, and Sara could see that small branches and leaves had been caught in his hair. She smiled.

"And you have to stick your head in there to take a pic?" she questioned, pointing at the bush.

Greg was busy getting the leaves out of his hair. "It was kinda difficult to keep the branches aside and hold the camera at the same time."

"You could've called me," Sara told him, helping him picking plant parts out of his hair. When they were done, she brushed through it with her hand once, smiling at the result.

"You were busy," Greg replied now to her remark.

Sara took her flashlight and let it shine where Greg had been in and saw a long metal rod lying in there and when she looked closer she thought she could make out a mixture of blood and hair at one end of it.

"I told you," Greg noted, picking up his camera and standing up from his crouched down position. Sara stood up as well.

"You still have to get it out of there, you know," she reminded him. Greg sighed and kneeled down again. Sara watched him crabbing into the plants again, coming out soon, holding the rod in his gloved hands.

Sara went to get a large bag for it, and Greg followed her before long.

"Did you find anything on the mailbox?" Sara asked once they had bagged it.

Greg nodded. "Got some prints. They're in my kit."

"Okay," Sara smiled at his once again tousled look.

Greg grimaced. "Are you enjoying yourself? My good looks are certainly even enhanced by these bits of wild nature."

He brushed through his hair but did not take care of removing any of the sticks in it. Sara came close to him and picked out some small leaves again.

"You need a shower, Greg."

**TBC**


	4. Curiosity

**A/N: I wish I'd be an awesome updater like other people on this site, but I am not.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Curiosity**

"Hmm, I come at the perfect time I see," Nick remarked gladly, when he walked into the break room, seeing Greg handing Sara a cup of hot coffee. Greg looked at him with playfully raised eyebrows, smirking.

"Well, I'll have to see if I'm able to spare some for you…" he offered. Nick looked at him with a fixed gaze, and Greg turned to Sara, smiling.

"Do you think we should share with Nick here?" he asked her.

Sara smiled, taking a sip of Greg's good, hot coffee. "I guess."

"I have even something to trade," Nick announced, waving with a folder. Greg looked up excitedly.

"Results from prints?" he questioned, forgetting about the coffee for a moment. Nick nodded, sitting down at the table and opening the folder, while Greg remembered the coffee and walked over to the machine again to fill a cup for Nick.

"Mandy was able to match prints you got from your scene last night to some partials of another case, a homicide as well," Nick told them. Greg glanced at him curiously, walking over to the table with two cups in his hands, concentrating to make sure the hot liquid stayed where it was.

"Which one?" he wanted to know, setting the cups on the table carefully, moving then on the chair next to Sara and pulling one of the cups towards himself.

"The Mitchell case… drowned in his bath tub," Nick replied, looking at the paper in front of him.

"Only this one?" Greg inquired further, leaning back.

Nick nodded again. "Yeah, how much more do you want?"

Greg glanced at Sara, thinking of the odd findings they had made at both scenes.

"Well, I thought it might be connected to that one shooting case, too."

His Texan friend frowned. "How did you get the idea? I mean, even a link between a drowning and an assault where the vic was hit with a rod over the head is… unusual."

Greg looked at Sara again. He did not want Nick laughing at him, so he was not willing to tell him about what they had found at the crime scenes.

"We think each of the victims received a warning," Sara stated, and Nick turned to her, looking questioningly. "It's possible there are more cases, since it's not very obvious, easy to miss…" Sara trailed off.

"What is it?" Nick wanted to know. Greg left the room without a word, and Nick could see him walking quickly down the hallway, while Sara leaned back, drinking the rest of her coffee.

"He could've just told me, you know," Nick remarked to her.

Sara smiled. "He wants to show you."

"What is it? I mean, if they got some letter or something, I would've believed it anyway… there're people out there."

Sara put her empty cup onto the table, still smiling at Nick. "He doesn't want you to think he's kidding."

Nick looked as if he suspected that Sara was kidding with him now.

"So, you two have some physic-paranormal thing going on now, reading each other's minds?" he questioned.

Sara laughed. "No," she replied shortly. When Nick lifted his eyebrows, she added, "I just know him." She smiled. "And he told me earlier that you'd think he's joking around."

"Who's joking?" they could hear Greg asking from the door of the break room. He was holding several folders in his hand. He swung over to them and placed the folders in front of Nick onto the table. He opened one of them, revealing crime scene pictures and Nick noticed from the date on the photos that it had to be Sara's and Greg's case from the previous night.

"So, what is it?" Nick questioned, looking at the pictures, wondering what Greg wanted to show him. Greg pointed at one photo and Nick leaned forward to look closer. "A card?" he asked.

"A death card," replied Greg emphasizing, dropping back onto the chair next to Sara.

Nick grimaced, looking at her. "I thought there isn't anything paranormal going on."

Greg looked confused, but Sara brushed it off with a shake of her head.

"We think it's some kind of warning because other victims got one, too," she explained.

"Which?"

"The drowning case," Sara replied and Greg opened another folder synchronically, showing Nick more pictures. "And a shooting, but there might be more," Sara continued.

"What's with those partials you mentioned?" Greg wanted to know.

"Mandy's working on it."

* * *

Later at night Greg and Nick were sorting through the evidence of several of Nick's cases, looking for any more cards or similar potential warnings in the possessions of the victims, while Sara was out on another scene. They had not been successful so far, and Greg had just closed the last box he had brought, watching Nick looking through his box now.

"Nothing," Nick stated finally, putting the lid on the evidence box in front of him. He shoved the box some inches away, leaning back and turning to Greg. "So, how's your plan going?" he asked him, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Slowly," his friend replied, grinning sheepishly. "I haven't really mustered up the courage yet…" he shrugged.

"If you need any help…" Nick offered and Greg was surprised that the Texan was not teasing him about his lack of courage; on the other hand Greg was sure that Nick knew how serious this was for the younger man.

"Thanks, but I guess I have to do this alone," he turned down Nick's offer.

At this moment, Nick's pager went off, along with Greg's one. Both of them checked, but it was Nick who spoke first.

"Mandy, she's got a match," he told Greg who nodded.

"Yeah, got the same message."

He moved out of the room, Nick following him. Few seconds later both men entered the prints lab where Mandy was already waiting for them.

"Hey," she greeted them. "That was quick."

Greg leaned next to her, looking at the screen in front of them.

"What do you have?"

"A name," the print tech replied in the manner Greg and Nick had been hoping for.

* * *

Some hours later Greg sank into his pillows exhaustedly. Sara was already sleeping soundly beside him which surprised him mildly. She must have been really tired that she had not waited for him. Greg was okay with it, since he had not really known how long it would take him until he would arrive home anyway.

After Mandy had found the match, they had informed Brass in no time, who had sent somebody out to bring their suspect in, meaning for both Nick and Greg that they had to stay longer to assist with the interrogation. Sara had been working on those cases as well, but as she had been out on a scene at that time, Greg had called her to tell her about the development, but also that she could go home as soon as she was finished with her scene.

She had not been very reluctant which had told Greg already then that she was very tired, and he had been proved right when he had finally arrived home, finding her sleeping tightly.

He closed his eyes as well, but his thoughts were wandering back to work anyway. They had their suspect arrested and the question was whether their cases were closed with that or not. The evidence against the man was not overwhelming but sufficient. One thing they had no idea about though, was his motive for killing those people. He had not been talking during the interrogation.

Knowing his motive would maybe help connecting him to other cases, and Greg was pretty sure he was involved in more. Greg remembered what Sara had said about this topic some days ago.

Thinking of her, he smiled, moving closer to her sleeping form. She smelled good; she had probably taken a shower before going to bed, as he took in the scent of her shampoo.

He still wondered about the tarot cards they had found at several crime scenes. He had asked after them during the interrogation but it had not caused their suspect to tell them anything more.

Greg could not even be sure that they were not a coincidence. What if they had just found them because they had paid attention to it after Greg had discovered them in the belongings of two victims? After all, they could go and look for green socks at all their crime scenes and probably find some at a few places, Greg thought. It still would not mean that those cases were connected. On the other hand, Greg admitted to himself, somewhat distracted by Sara's touch, it was not like any of their victims had received those socks in an envelope addressed to them.

Fully distracted now, Greg's thoughts wandered to those not-work-related things he and Nick had been talking about.

**TBC**


	5. Findings

_**A/N: **__**So I didn't update in quite a while… life and university have been busy and still are. I hope you'll still stick with me; chapters are coming, even if it happens slowly.**_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Findings**

When Sara woke up, she rolled to her other side, expecting to find Greg sleeping there. The bed was empty though. Sara frowned, remembering that she had gone to bed in the morning, too tired to even wait for Greg. Now she wondered if he had been home to sleep at all.

She propped herself onto her arms, stretching to look over the edge of the bed on the other side, grinning slightly then. Greg's worn socks and the shirt he had been wearing the previous night were spread over the floor. This was sufficient evidence for his presence. Sara smiled, climbing out of bed. Walking out of the bed room, she looked around for Greg and finally saw him coming out of the bathroom, his hair tousled and wet.

"Without your dirty laundry there, I wouldn't have even noticed you were here," she said, raising her eyebrows, but smiling.

Greg grinned. "I was sleeping next to you. I can't believe you didn't notice me." He walked over to her and kissed her lightly.

"Wake-up kiss."

"I'm awake." Sara smiled.

Greg swung an arm around her. "You'll be even more awake very soon, for Greg's already been busy this afternoon," he announced, directing her to the kitchen. Sara smirked, dropping down on a chair, while Greg switched off the coffee machine.

"Now I know why I'm living together with you," she joked, watching him filling two cups. Greg brought them over to the small table, putting them down.

"I hope you have some more reasons," he said, hovering close to her. Sara looked as if she was thinking about it.

"We work together," she said finally, looking at him earnestly.

"What does that have to do with it?" Greg wanted to know, sitting down as well. Sara took a sip from her coffee.

"Well, it gives us more time to discuss cases," she shrugged, knowing that he'd know she was not meaning it serious. "Speaking of that," she added, "what about the suspect they brought in this morning?"

Greg groaned quietly. "Do we have to discuss work right now?"

Sara lifted her eyebrows. "It's what we do."

Greg sighed, and Sara gave him a smile. "I was just joking," she assured him. She leaned over the table, kissing him. "I don't want to talk about work right now either."

Greg nodded, but after Sara had drawn back from him, he leaned onto the table, looking excited.

"We nailed him though! Evidence is not like overwhelming, but it's enough."

Sara smiled lightly, drinking more of her coffee. "Good. Did he talk in interrogation?"

Greg shook his head. "Nope."

"Motive?" Sara questioned.

He shrugged. "No idea."

Sara mirrored his gesture. "Well, we don't need it if the evidence is sufficient."

"Actually, we could need it to connect him to that shooting where such a card turned up as well. And didn't you lately say it's better if we know the motive?" Greg rambled, running his hand through his still tousled hair that seemed to be dry by now.

"We don't have him for that shooting?" Sara asked, ignoring Greg's question. He shook his head. Sara leaned back thoughtfully.

Greg sighed. "Now we're talking about work again."

"You started it," Sara reminded him, but with a smile.

"We could need some free days," Greg said suddenly. "Together," he added. "Go somewhere…"

Sara nodded. "I haven't been out of Vegas since I was in Utah…" She looked at Greg, gauging his mood, as well as his thoughts.

"Well, I was in Florida at that time… involuntarily." He grimaced.

Sara looked down at the table. She did not like remembering what had happened back then. She shoved those thoughts away, looking up again and smiling at Greg.

"So where would you like to go?" she asked, trying to bring back a light mood.

Greg shrugged. "Not very far away."

Sara smirked. "You don't want to spend more time in the car than playing."

Greg grinned back at her.

* * *

Sara found Greg leaning over long lists with small printed numbers, when she entered the room at the lab several hours later. She was just back from a crime scene and Greg looked up and smiled at her, when he noticed her presence.

"Hey," he greeted her lightly.

"Found anything?" she questioned, glancing over the wide spread papers on the table.

"Nope," Greg replied, shrugging, some frustration shining through his expression. "He didn't call the victim once. At least not from his own phone. There's no connection I can find here," he said, pointing towards the papers which were phone records as Sara had recognized by now.

"You haven't closed the case?" she asked, looking down at Greg now.

Greg rubbed his forehead. "We don't have him for the shooting and if we find the connection to the victim, find the motive, we could be able to nail him on that one, too."

Sara looked thoughtful. "And if it was somebody else?" she considered.

"The card?" Greg suggested.

"Could be anything," Sara said, looking over the phone records again.

Greg stood up. "We've got a warrant for his bank records as well, so we'll see if there's something," he said hopefully, glancing at the papers as well that he had been looking over the past hour, before his gaze went back to Sara.

"Did you ask Grissom about the vacation?" he wanted to know. Sara smiled, reaching out to run her hand through his hair.

"Not yet," she replied, turning away from him then. "Tell me if you get anything out of that," she asked him, pointing towards the papers again.

"Sure," Greg nodded, before Sara left.

Half an hour later Greg went to the reception to get the records that had been sent over by the bank of that their suspect was a customer. Greg picked up the large envelope and his gaze fell on another, smaller letter that was lying there, too. He looked at it curiously and saw his name written on it. He picked it up as well, turning it around, wondering. There was no return address on it. Greg shrugged and made his way back to the room he had come from, taking both envelopes with him.

When he walked into the room he found Sara sitting there, looking over some kind of papers as well.

"I thought I keep you company," she told him as an explanation, before he had even asked.

"I like that," Greg said, sitting down opposite of Sara and starting to open the envelope from the bank. It did not contain many sheets and Greg figured that he would have finished looking over these in little time.

He watched Sara going over her papers concentrated for a few seconds before he started on his own. There did not seem to be anything unusual on the first sheets and Greg's hope on finding a connection or a motive diminished. His attention swayed off to the second envelope that was lying next to him. He wondered if it was anything case-related, or work-related at all for that matter. His curiosity grew and he almost smiled when he considered that it was some surprise from Sara. It was not her handwriting on the letter though and Greg forced his attention back to the bank records.

Sara had noticed that Greg kept glancing at the envelope that he had placed onto the table next to him. She caught herself thinking about what it could be that made Greg looking at it again and again. Maybe it was just curiousness; this would be typical for him. Or maybe it was nervousness. Maybe it was some kind of surprise for her that he had brought with him and Sara smiled slightly, but scolded herself then for thinking about that, focusing on her case again.

It was not much later when she saw Greg finally picking up the letter. He opened it carefully and looked into it, while Sara pretended to be working. Greg's expression remained unchanged at first and Sara was not able to see what was in the envelope that he was holding.

He put it down suddenly and leaned quickly over the papers he had been working on earlier. Sara frowned, still wondering what kind of letter Greg was having there, but telling herself to limit her curiosity. She actually continued working now, but was soon distracted again when Greg made a sound of surprise.

"What's up?" she wanted to know.

"Somebody got a huge sum here," Greg explained, lifting his eyebrows.

"How much?"

"24,183 dollar," Greg replied, his finger on the spot of the paper that showed the sum.

Sara looked slightly puzzled. "Odd number."

Greg nodded. "Yeah. If you paid somebody to kill someone, would you pay him 24,183?"

"Uh…" Sara looked at him.

"I know you wouldn't pay somebody to kill someone," Greg clarified quickly," I meant-"

"I know, Greg. I was just thinking," Sara shook her head, frowning, but slightly amused. "I don't know. Maybe there's a valid reason for the sum."

"The subject's only a combo of letters and numbers. Doesn't tell us anything," Greg stated. "The date's one day after the murder though, so it fits…" He looked at Sara, grimacing slightly confused and she returned his expression.

**TBC**


	6. Interruptions

_**A/N: Oh, it's really been a while since I updated this. **__**I put the university stuff aside for a bit tonight, deciding to write for a change. Well, write fics that is because my life feels right now like a sequence of writing papers. lol**_

_**Here we go, hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Interruptions**

Greg slipped the envelope into an evidence bag when Sara did not look. He would check it out later, even though it couldn't be…

He had seen that Sara had been paying attention to it. There was no need to worry her about it though. There was not even a need to worry himself. They had the guy. He was in jail. There was no way he could have sent this… even if he had, there was no way he could do anything to him… it wasn't a warning, it wasn't a sign, it was not more than a bad joke, whoever had sent it.

On the other hand, Greg started to wonder how anybody else could even know about the cards so that they would be able to pull off such a bad joke. The perp was sitting in jail.

Was it a copycat? They had not let anything out to the media, and certainly nothing about the cards they had found.

Greg did not have much more time to ponder about it because only few minutes later Catherine walked in jauntily.

"Hey, are you two up for a bit of a ride?" she asked smiling, waving a slip of paper. "I have an assignment out there…"

A grin spread over Greg's face. "Sure." He was definitely keen to get out of the lab. Looking through those papers had been tiresome at its best.

Catherine smirked. "Well, I could have told you to take it anyway."

"I know," Greg winked, looking at Sara, who stood up slowly. She packed the papers she had been working on together, while Greg took the slip of paper from Catherine.

"Enjoy yourselves," she said, before leaving them alone again. Greg looked at Sara expectantly.

"I guess you're driving?" he asked.

Sara smirked, but did not say anything.

"I figured." He walked after her out of the room, stepping then up beside her. "It will take quite a while until we're out there. We'll never be done by the time shift's regularly over…"

"And?" Sara questioned, raising her eyebrows. "What would be news there?"

"Nothing," Greg shrugged, unsure what he had actually wanted to say. Well, it did not really matter if their shift took a bit longer once again. A lot of the time he would be basically doing a road trip with Sara which was great by its own.

When they were a fair distance away from the room where they had been working earlier, Sara suddenly stopped. It was only now that Greg caught sight of the evidence bag in her hand and remembered what he had forgotten. He had left it lying around. Sara's expression was questioning when she held out the bag.

"You forgot this," she said simply. She let her hand drop then so that Greg did not even try to actually take the evidence bag from her. "What is this?" she wanted to know, glancing at him, before looking closer at the bag. "It's not even labeled…" she trailed off. "Greg…"

She opened the bag and her eyes narrowed when she looked into it. Greg could make out a hint of worry both in her expression and voice, what was what he had actually tried to avoid.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

"Letter I got earlier," he replied evasively.

"And you didn't think it worth mentioning?" Sara returned with some sharpness in her voice now which was mainly caused by her worry as Greg knew.

"Sara, this is rubbish and you know that. The perp's in jail. He can't send out any of those cards anymore. He can't kill anyone anymore."

"Why did you get one then? What if we got the wrong guy after all?" Sara questioned.

"We can take this to Mandy to have a look at it. Maybe she'll find some prints, but besides that? What am I supposed to do? There may be somebody playing a very bad joke… I can't go and let Brass set some people following me around just because somebody thought it funny to send me a tarot card," Greg rambled.

Sara said nothing. Instead she looked at him thoughtfully. "Okay," she nodded finally. "Let's take this to Mandy," she agreed, lifting the bag in her hand. "But if you notice anything that's off, you'll tell somebody, okay?"

"Okay," Greg nodded as well. "Come on, there's a scene to process. We can't put everything on hold because of this."

Sara nodded slightly, not looking convinced though.

Some minutes later both of them were in the car and Sara drove them out of the city which went comparatively fast at that time of the night, or very early morning.

Greg popped open a plastic bottle, gulping down a quantity of water. "Want something?" he asked Sara next to him.

She shook her head. "No, I've got my own."

"You should drink something," Greg told her between two more large gulps. "It will get warm pretty quickly, and we can't drink anything once we're processing the scene."

"I know," Sara returned. "Don't worry about me." She lifted her eyebrows when Greg emptied the last bit of the small bottle. "And don't complain if you have to pee."

Greg laughed, while Sara accelerated now that they were out of the city. The drive went over faster than Greg would have liked. He quite enjoyed just sitting in the car with Sara, letting her drive, despite his occasional arguing about it. It was relaxing and usually gave him a feeling of calmness before they would enter yet another crime scene.

There was no sign of the sun yet, when they got off the car. Greg took in the cool morning air when he stepped onto the desert ground, turning around to see Sara dimly in the shine of the light that came over from the crime scene. She was wearing her CSI vest with a long-armed shirt underneath. Greg himself had only a T-Shirt that was almost a bit too cool for this time of the night, but he knew that the temperature would rise very soon.

Greg glanced over to the crime scene but was not able to see anything. Sara was already retrieving her kit out of the trunk in the meantime and Greg hasted to do so as well when he noticed her looking at him, waiting. He was about to slam down the lid of the trunk, when he caught sight of something and remembered that it would possibly become a very hot shift out here. Quickly putting on his vest, he grabbed two base-caps, putting one on his head, carrying the other one over to where Sara was looking through her kit and putting it on her head with a swift motion.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Just making sure your pretty head isn't grilled by the sun," Greg winked.

"Greg, there's no sun," Sara argued, touching and moving the cap for a second, but leaving it on her head, looking at Greg.

"Not yet," he shrugged. "But I can promise you that the sun's going to rise today…"

"Go figure," Sara returned, but with a smile. "Do you have everything you need now?"

Greg looked around. "When I think about it…" he said slowly, walking back to the trunk of the car that was still open. He retrieved another bottle of water, opening it quickly, relishing more of the cool liquid, knowing he would not be able to drink anything once they were processing the scene. It was okay not to eat anything for a few hours but not drinking anything out here was a whole other thing. When he had emptied half of the water, he put the small bottle into his kit, just in case, before he made his way back to the still waiting Sara.

Soon they were both absorbed in their work, hardly noticing what was happening around them.

Greg noticed that it had indeed been a very good idea to drink some water before he had started working here for he could feel the upcoming heat already now.

"Okay, are you ready for a bit of a walk?" Sara asked suddenly, when Greg was staring into the distance where he knew the sun would go up soon. It was not normal that it was already so warm when the sun had not even risen, he thought bemusedly.

"What?"

"I asked if you're up for a bit of a walk," Sara repeated patiently. "We need to find out where the guy came from," she explained, indicating the body, "got to follow the blood."

Greg nodded, looking at the stabbing victim and then at the thin line of blood drops leading away, or rather to, the body. "Okay. Who takes the markers?" he asked eagerly.

Sara grimaced, rolling her eyes at the same time and letting out a small chuckle. "Take them."

Greg grabbed a bag of markers, guessing they would need quite a few of them and added one next to a blood drop not very far away from the body. Sara photographed both and Greg put down another marker, only a foot away from the last one.

The distances between the markers grew larger but with a bit of searching they found a new trace of blood again and again. Greg was still placing markers onto the desert ground while Sara took pictures of the markers and the blood which became worse and worse visible.

At marker 36 Greg grew bored, wondering how long the man had actually been bleeding. His wounds had not seemed to be very deep so he had probably lasted for quite a while before he had died of exsanguinations.

At marker 44 Greg decided that it was way too hot for the early morning hours. It distracted him and he found himself less and less able to focus on looking for more traces of blood. He would not have thought that he had swallowed one and half a bottle of water not very long ago, for his mouth was just as dry as the desert. He glanced at Sara who seemed to be doing way better and he wondered what was wrong with him. What would he be doing if it was actually noon and the heat would be glazing down on them?

When he thought about it, it was definitely not normal. It should be cool right now. He swallowed which was just another uncomfortable action, for no saliva was left in his mouth.

"Greg?"

He stared at a spot on the ground, feeling as if he was going to be sick any moment now.

"Greg?"

It took a third call until he finally looked up and answered. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?" Sara asked him softly.

"Nothing," Greg replied at first. "It's hot," he added then.

Sara frowned. "It's not. It's almost chilly actually," she contradicted him. "Are you feeling alright?"

Greg did not respond. He was staring at marker number 44 now, wondering how he had managed to walk up to it, for he did not think he would be able to walk to 45, or even only back to 43. His legs had become fixed to the spot where he was standing as it seemed.

"Greg?"

He trembled, proving Sara right now. It was chilly. More than chilly. He could not understand why he had felt so hot before. It was cold, so cold. His legs were not the only thing that was heavy. His head had just joined the club.

"Greg, what's wrong?"

He needed to sit down. But he was in the desert. Just for a bit. He needed to work a scene. He had to sit down, just for a moment.

Greg's contemplation was interrupted, when he sacked down on the ground.

**TBC**


	7. Complications

_**A/N: Thanks to beta**__**reading by WitchGirl, I can present you an at least grammatically proper chapter lol.**_

* * *

**Chapter 6****: Complications**

Greg had hardly noticed that he had fallen, let alone that he had landed hard. He was just busy reminding himself to keep breathing. Opening his eyes, he saw Sara looking down at him in shock.

"Greg, what's wrong? What's wrong with you?" she asked urgently, her hand touching his cheek.

"I don't know," he replied quietly, trembling, but trying to sit up. Sara helped him until he was in a sitting position. "I felt so hot." He tried to stand up, but realized that his legs would not support him at all. Sara's hand moved to his forehead.

"You're really hot."

Greg attempted something like a smile. "I like to hear you saying that." Her hand felt cold against his forehead, just like everything was feeling cold now.

She chuckled lightly, but he could still hear the worry in her voice when she said, "I'll call for help." He tried to nod, but somehow lifting his head seemed too much of an effort right now. He could hear Sara talking but she was not speaking to him, so he figured she was calling for help. His ears were clearly betraying him. Or maybe it was blood rushing in them that made the noise that deafened all other sounds.

He could feel Sara's hand on his forehead again. She said something to him and he opened his eyes. He had not even noticed he had closed them again.

"What?" he coughed.

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with you? How long have you been feeling like this?" she wanted to know.

He shook his head. "No idea. I was feeling alright back at the lab. When we came here, too, I think." Sara looked thoughtful.

"Help will come soon," she said finally. He saw that she took off her vest and the jersey she was wearing underneath, which he had wrongfully identified as a long shirt earlier. She put her vest back on and placed the jersey over him. He was glad for the tiny piece of warmth this was giving him, but he was worried that she would get cold. Then he remembered that it was apparently not that cold, it only felt like that to him. He groaned.

"Greg?"

"Thanks for the jacket," he said quietly.

She did not respond.

"Is somebody coming?" Greg asked.

"Soon." She did not sound convinced.

"Maybe you should go back to the scene and show them the way," he suggested. It would probably bring them here faster. He shuddered.

"I don't want to leave you alone," she refused, taking his hand in hers. Greg smiled, halfway trying to prop himself up, if only to show her that he was not as bad off as she seemed to think. This small movement made his world start to swim though, so he laid back down.

"Come on, it's not that far," he tried to encourage her nevertheless. "Half a mile maybe." It could not be more, if he remembered the walk from the scene right. It had taken them a long while until here, but that was because they had walked very slowly, looking for traces and had stopped often to take pictures. "You'd be back in no time." He trembled more than before and felt like he was going to throw up. As quickly as he could he moved to his side, taking Sara in surprise. It was unnecessary though, for his stomach did not seem to contain anything that wanted out, and he tried to remember when he had eaten the last time.

Greg did not know how long he was lying there. He did not even know if he was conscious all the time, for the world had not stopped swimming and black spots danced in front of his eyes again and again, so that he shut them finally unnerved.

He groaned, and could feel Sara running her hand through his hair, saying something to him which he figured was supposed to be soothing. Why was she still here? She should have gone to make sure that this promised help finally found them. Did she want him to die out here?

If he had not already been trembling so hard, both from the coldness he felt, and whatever made him feel so sick, he would have shuddered even more, for it was the first time that he had actually had this thought. Of course, Sara did not want him to die out here; it was just a frustrated thought due to her still staying with him, but what if he was really going to die? Maybe Sara thought that he would die and did not want to leave him to go for help because of that, either because she did not think he could be helped anymore or because she did not want to risk leaving and coming back finding him dead, or maybe both.

Once again he could feel her taking his hand, this time more firmly than before.

"You're going to be alright," she tried to assure him. Greg wondered if she was really that optimistic.

"I'll just trust that you're right," he said quietly. He opened his eyes again to look at her and saw her nodding. It had grown light by now.

"Do you want to drink something?" she asked. "There's something in your kit, isn't there?"

Greg nodded to the second question, but before he could refuse that he actually wanted something, Sara had reached out to open his kit and take out the half full bottle of water he had put there earlier.

"I don't want it," he said. "Take it," he told her. "I worry that you don't drink enough." He was not sure how serious or non-serious he had meant this, but Sara chucked lightly.

"I'll take a sip, if you take one," she suggested.

"Okay."

Sara opened the bottle, taking a careful sip. Then she held the bottle to Greg's mouth, letting him drink a bit. He had to admit that it actually felt good, even though he did not feel like eating or drinking anything.

"I feel like a little kid," he told her. "One sip for Sara, one sip for Greg." He could see her smiling at this.

"What about another one?" she held up the bottle the content of which had not diminished very much.

"Aren't you afraid I have some bad contagious disease?" Greg asked, meaning it serious this time, even though he was asking in a light tone.

She did not answer his question, but took a big gulp from the bottle this time, before she prompted him to drink more. Finally she emptied the rest of the water, putting the bottle then back into the kit. Greg laughed inwardly that he had thought for a moment that she would trash the bottle in the desert. It would have been very much unlike her.

Then he squirmed, for his insides protested heavily. He tried to control his breathing, while he saw Sara standing up next to him.

"Greg, they're coming."

"About time," he brought out, suppressing any vulgar language.

He never really remembered the ambulance actually arriving and neither could he recollect being moved into the vehicle, but he was pretty sure that they had just driven off when he eventually lost consciousness.

* * *

Sara had been relieved when help had finally arrived. She had contemplated walking back to their crime scene all the time, but had not wanted to leave Greg alone. She had been scared, had felt alone for she seemed to be the only one who could help Greg, and yet couldn't help him at all at the same time.

She had not liked that he had lost consciousness in the ambulance but she had been assured quickly that the paramedics were working on it. The ride to the hospital seemed to go over in no time, or maybe it just felt like that afterwards, now that Sara was waiting at the hospital and time seemed to stretch endlessly.

While she stared at the wall, almost ready to count anything on it, she also started wondering again what exactly had happened. She could not imagine that Greg had fallen ill all by himself so suddenly. He had seemed alright during the night. Also the heaviness of it puzzled and scared her. She could not imagine how they would have done it, but…

This could not be the case. Maybe the card had been meant as warning indeed, but Sara had no idea how they could have done it. Poisoned Greg.

It was the most logical explanation that came to her mind. It would explain his sudden illness.

Sara bit her lip, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the tears that had threatened to fall. Greg was going to be alright. If he had indeed been poisoned, they would certainly know of a way to treat him. She had not been able to give them any information about what had happened with Greg, but she was sure the doctors would figure out what Greg had been poisoned with. And then they would be able to help him.

Sara felt sick at the thought that it was maybe not that easy.

**TBC**


	8. Spreading

_**A/N: Once again thanks to WitchGirl for betareading**__**, and thanks for your reviews!**_

* * *

**Chapter 7****: Spreading**

Sara was tired. She knew that she should have tried getting some rest. Sitting and waiting in the hospital had been some kind of rest after all. Maybe not, considering her stress level, but she had not been doing anything. This was also why she had left, when she had learned that Greg would be okay, but that they were still working on him and that she should come back later.

Sara's determination to find out what had happened was strengthened, now that it was no longer clouded by fear. She had told the hospital staff that they needed to carefully bag anything that would help to determine what had caused Greg's illness, if it was not a natural disease after all, so that they would have the evidence later on. After she had called Grissom to give him a heads-up, she had set off to the lab, taking any of Greg's stuff she had with her.

If it was not a natural disease, something else had caused Greg's condition. Most likely he had been poisoned. The question was how it had happened and Sara was pondering about it on her way back to the lab.

He could have inhaled something. This was not likely though. She had been around him all night, both in the lab and in the car later on. If anything had been in the air there she would have been affected as well. He could have eaten or drunk something. As far as Sara could tell, he had not eaten anything since the beginning of their shift though. Of course, it could have been a poison that acted slowly. Sara remembered clearly though that Greg had drunk water before they had started working the scene. It could not have been that either though, since she had had some of the water as well.

The poison could also have entered his body through skin contact. What had he touched? He had worn gloves all the time at the scene. Of course, he had not worn any while they had been in the car but Sara could not imagine that it had been anything in there. Slowly, a certain envelope entered Sara's mind. Had Greg touched the contents? She did not think so. He had treated it as evidence, so he had certainly used gloves, if he had touched the card inside at all. What if he had not? He could have touched it unwittingly, in the initial surprise of seeing it. She could imagine some substances that would cause Greg's symptoms… on the other hand, he probably would not be alive anymore, if it had been what Sara had in mind.

She rubbed her forehead, pulling finally into the street were the lab was. She did not feel all too well thinking about Greg's condition, even though she had been assured he would be alright most likely. Most likely, that was certainly her problem.

She looked at her watch, surprised that it was still so early in the day. Waiting at the hospital had felt like an eternity.

Sara decided to let anything out of Greg's kit be analyzed. They needed to know what had been the cause. They needed to catch whoever had done this. It did not even enter Sara's mind that it might have been an accident. By now she was taking the "warning" he had received earlier very seriously. She rolled up her sleeves, before she put on gloves to retrieve anything from Greg's kit. She had always thought the lab's air conditioning was working well.

Before long, she also made her way into the print lab, hoping to still find Mandy there. The lab tech was actually still leaning over a microscope.

"Hey, did you get anything from the envelope Greg brought you earlier?" Sara wanted to know. Mandy looked up from her work.

"How is Greg doing?" she returned, not answering Sara's question.

Sara smiled slightly. "I didn't think it had traveled that fast," she told the lab tech. "He'll be alright."

"That's good," Mandy stated.

"Yeah," Sara nodded, returning to business then. "And I want to find out who did this. I think he was poisoned, but I still have to find out how. I wonder if anything was on the card that was in that envelope. Did you find any prints on it?"

Mandy had been listening intently, before she shook her head. "No prints on the card, only Greg's on the envelope." That meant that Greg had very likely not touched the card with bare hands, so he could not have been contaminated that way. Maybe it was on the envelope and the card was only a red herring.

"I need to get it to trace," Sara said thoughtfully. Mandy looked at the evidence bag that contained the envelope, before she glanced at Sara.

"You might want to use gloves, just in case," she suggested.

Sara nodded. "Alright." After she had put on a pair of gloves, Mandy handed her the evidence bag and Sara hurried to take it to the trace lab.

"Your boredom is over," she greeted Hodges, who seemed to be surfing the internet, clicking to another page quickly, when he noticed Sara.

"That's… good," he responded, nodding.

Sara handed him the evidence bag. "Be careful with this."

"I'm always careful," Hodges pointed out.

"Check for anything that could cause a contact poisoning," Sara told him. "I'll be right back with more," she promised him, walking out of the trace lab in order to get everything she had found in Greg's kit that could have been the cause.

* * *

When he opened his eyes slowly, Greg wondered what had hit him. He was overly aware of his whole body, which felt somehow distant from the outside world. When his vision had finally cleared, Greg tried to sit up carefully, despite lying quite comfortably, if you ignored the bad feeling that had consumed his whole body. He managed to prop himself against his pillow but this simple action resulted in a wave of nausea and Greg closed his eyes again, hoping for it to stop soon.

When it had sufficiently passed, Greg opened his eyes again, looking around in the hospital room that was deserted apart from him. Judging from the high stand of the sun outside of the window, it was about noon. Greg was not entirely sure but thought to remember that it had been short after sunrise that he had still been out in the desert with Sara. And speaking of Sara, where was she?

He looked now down at himself and noticed uneasily that a tube was coming out of his body and as far as he could see at least two IVs were attached to him. He tried to breathe calmly, telling himself that this was probably alright and would help him feel better. Well, he was already feeling better than out in the desert. He was not shivering anymore and the fact that he had regained consciousness was certainly an advantage, too.

Still, he needed an explanation what had happened, and what all this stuff sticking out of his body was supposed to be for. He also wanted to see Sara.

Greg hit the call button, waiting then impatiently for somebody to come. When a nurse walked in finally, he smiled at her broadly.

"Hey, I wondered if you could tell me what's wrong with me," he gestured to the tubes, "and I really want to know where Sara is," he added, stretching his neck to look around her as if he would be able to see Sara through the open door in the corridor.

"Dr. Griffin is not sure yet what it was exactly but it was an orally ingested poison, most likely a salicylate." When she saw Greg's expression, she continued. "They got it out of your stomach. Activated carbon is doing wonders there, so no worries. We have to get it out of your blood, too, though, that's why-"

"I'm not worried about me," Greg interrupted her. "You said it was orally ingested?"

The nurse nodded and Greg leaned back, his mind racing. He had not eaten anything. But he had drunk. Water, lots of water.

"Was it in the water?" he questioned urgently.

The nurse looked puzzled. "We don't know yet. Your labs will be back soon, so we'll know what it was, but we won't be able to tell you where it came from." The crime lab would have to find that out. But Greg was afraid that he already knew the solution. He had not eaten or drunk anything else except for the water, and they had said that the poison had been orally ingested.

Sara had drunk some of the water, too. Later than he did.

"Where's Sara? She's the one who'd called for help. Has she been here?" Greg asked, almost ready to jump out of his hospital bed.

"I think she was here briefly, but she was told that it would be a while before she could talk to you, so she left." The nurse seemed to wonder why Greg was agitated and he realized that his question had not explained what was going on.

"I need to call her," he said firmly.

**TBC**


	9. Conditions

**Chapter 8****: Conditions**

It gave Judy quite a jolt when she picked up the phone and it was Desert Palms hospital calling. She had heard about Greg and that the hospital was phoning the lab did not promise well. Judy suppressed these thoughts though, asking politely what she could do for the caller.

"We have an urgent message for Ms. Sara Sidle," the female person on the other side of the line replied.

Judy swallowed. So it was indeed about Greg? She hoped that he was doing okay, but such a call let her fear the worst.

"I can connect you to Ms. Sidle's cell phone," she offered.

"Yes, thank you."

Judy would have liked to ask the other woman what was wrong with Greg that they would call Sara so urgently, but she knew that it was not her place to question that now.

"Please hold on a minute," she said and hit the key that would connect the caller to Sara's phone, hoping Sara would pick up.

While she heard the ringing sounds, Judy remembered that she would be able to leave soon when day shift receptionist arrived, even though she was not too keen on it before she knew about Greg. The thought about leaving vanished out if her mind though when Sara did not pick up after Judy had waited for a minute. Supressing a sigh, Judy reconnected to the hospital woman.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't able to reach Ms. Sidle."

"I need to talk to her," the other woman expressed firmly. "Do you know if she's available at the crime lab?" she wanted to know.

Judy glanced around what she could see of the lab, but did not see Sara anywhere.

"She might be out on a scene," she said carefully. Considering that it was nearly end of shift, it was rather late to go out on a scene, but this rule did not count for Sara anyway, and if there was a new case, it had to be worked anyway and Sara would be the type to take it. Judy could not remember Sara leaving though after she had arrived some hours ago, walking past Judy's work place absent-mindedly.

"You need to find her," the other woman told her. "She needs to go to the hospital because we have to assume that it was the water from their water bottles that caused Mr. Sanders condition."

Judy was confused. It was indeed about Greg. She just did not understand what point the other woman was making with the water bottles. Unless… word has traveled that Greg had gotten very sick on a scene and a rumor had arisen that he had been poisoned although nothing had been confirmed so far.

The hospital thought it had been something in Greg's water. And Sara had drunk it, too.

Judy rose from her chair. "I'm going to find her," she promised the other woman. Maybe she should rather have said that she was going to look for her because she was not really sure that she would be successful. Judy hoped that Sara was still around. Otherwise somebody needed to go to her place and look there.

Judy wished she would find somebody else from Sara's shift. But all other CSI's were still out on scenes as far as she knew. She looked around in all labs and rooms, asking anybody she met if they had seen Sara. Mandy, who was on her way out, remembered having seen her about an hour ago and David Hodges seemed to have talked to her, too, but Judy was quick to retreat from the trace lab before the man could get deeper into his obnoxious conversations.

Judy also checked the locker room and listened for running water in the showers but there was none. The last place she decided to check was the restroom. Walking in there quietly, she looked at the cubicles and one of them was indeed shut. She could hear sounds coming out of it and she did not like these sounds at all.

"Sara?" she called. She did not get an answer at first, for the unpleasant sounds continued for some seconds before she heard a weak voice answering.

"Judy, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Sara, the hospital just called and-"

"Is… ugh… is something wi-ugh-with Greg?" Sara brought out, a question that was followed by more unpleasant sounds and what Judy thought to recognize as a sob.

"They said you should go to the hospital quickly. They didn't say anything about Greg. They only said that it was probably the water," she told her what the hospital had said earlier.

"The water?" It was the sound of water running down the toilet that Judy heard next and she figured that Sara had just hit the rinsing, before the brunette emerged from the cubicle shaking.

Judy nodded. "That's what they said." At this moment, Sara started trembling even more and had to hold herself on the door of the cubicle she had been in. "I'm going to call an ambulance," Judy decided, wishing she had sounded firmer, for she suspected that the brunette would argue against this decision.

"No," Sara returned quickly. "I'm really… really not… could you drive me to the hospital please?" she asked.

Judy nodded promptly. "Of course." Watching the shaking Sara, she asked, "Can you walk?" She had no idea how else she would get Sara to her car. She would have to find somebody to help her.

"Yeah, I think so," Sara responded though. "It's… not that bad." The trembling of her hands did not convince Judy.

They made their way slowly out of the restroom and out of the lab, meeting several people in the hallway who asked if Sara was alright. Sara either mumbled that she was fine or replied quickly that she was just on her way to a doctor. Judy was glad when they were finally sitting in her car. She was afraid though that Sara would turn really ill during the drive. Sara had her head leaned against the window on the passenger's side, maybe relishing the cool contrast of the pane with her heated skin, and Judy kept watching her nervously, but both Sara's stomach as well as the trembling seemed to have calmed down for now.

"I should have known it," the brunette said suddenly. Before Judy could answer anything, Sara continued. "I wasn't feeling well when I was at the hospital earlier, but I thought it was just because I was worried so much about Greg."

Sara sounded not as weak as before, so Judy hoped that the worst was already over. Still, she was glad when they arrived at Desert Palms.

Judy stayed in the background while Sara handled everything herself, explaining the staff at the reception the situation. This was also the moment when the crime lab receptionist had to realize that not everything was over yet after all, for Sara was gagging again and somebody rushed to her with a bag to catch the vomit.

Judy sat down, ready to wait, while Sara was walked off into another area. Some minutes later the crime lab receptionist rose, as she had decided to ask after Greg. Judy was even a bit surprised when a nurse actually showed her the room, and she walked in quietly, immediately met by Greg's nervous look at her.

"Hey, Judy, what are you doing around here?" his expression changed into a smile, but she could hear the worry in his voice, even more so when he added, "Have you seen Sara?"

"I drove her here," she answered, drawing a chair to Greg's bed on which he was sitting propped up.

"Thank you," Greg said, apparently relieved and Judy realized that he knew about Sara, the water and the hospital's suspicion. "Is she doing okay?" he asked.

"She was not feeling very well," Judy started carefully, "but I think she'll be alright." She sounded a bit insecure, but it seemed to be enough for Greg.

"Thanks." He smiled at her broadly.

"You're both very welcome," the blonde woman replied gladly. "You really have a dangerous job, Greg," she pointed out a moment later.

Greg rubbed his forehead. "Well, getting poisoned isn't really in the job description."

Judy chuckled quietly. They kept chatting for a while until the nurse Greg had talked to earlier came once again into his room. She was just supposed to check up on him, but he kept asking after Sara so she promised that she would try to get information.

When the nurse had left the room again, Greg looked at Judy. "I hope she's okay."

She nodded. "Me, too."

A moment later another woman entered the room and Greg looked at her curiously. She smiled. "I'm here to get some of those tubes out of you."

"Oh…" Greg uttered. "Already? Cool."

The doctor laughed, approaching Greg. "Well, we'll have to leave this one in until tomorrow," she said, adding, "But I think you can get out of here tomorrow. You seem quite chipper."

"Great," Greg replied, his smile fading then. "Do you know what's with Sara Sidle?" He had already asked the nurse, but maybe she got distracted somewhere…. and he just needed to know.

The doctor stopped in her task for a moment, looking at him friendly. "I'll go and check in a minute," she promised and Greg nodded.

"Thanks."

**TBC**


	10. Pleads

**Chapter 9****: Pleads **

In the restroom Sara had turned really worried. It had not been just a passing feeling of nausea. This was serious, for her stomach did not want to calm down and her breathing and heartbeat had accelerated in a worrisome pace. She just did not know what to do. She was not even sure she would be able to move away from this toilet bowl.

She was too smart to wonder what was wrong though. It was not only Greg who had been poisoned today. She had gotten her piece of pie as well. It took her a few moments between vomiting to realize that it had to have been the water. She had drunken from it later than Greg had so she was feeling bad now, way later than him.

Somebody had put something into the water. Greg had received that card earlier. Sara could not believe that somebody had actually succeeded to make their threat true. They had not succeeded in killing Greg, and she was hoping they were not just succeeding in killing her, but they had tried quiet heftily.

Sara leaned over the toilet bowl again and tears were running down her cheeks by now. She wondered if somebody would come if she called. She did not think she would make it out of here and to the hospital alone. She guessed she needed to go there, even if she did not want to. She groaned. At least she could join Greg then.

She heard somebody coming into the restroom.

"Sara?"

Judy's voice. "Judy, is that you?" Sara asked to make sure. Who knew, maybe this stuff in her system gave her hallucinations.

"Yeah, it's me. Sara, the hospital just called and-"

"Is… ugh." Another wave of nausea washed over her. "… is something wi-ugh-with Greg?" she brought out, before she had to puke again. What was if something was even more wrong with Greg? They could not have succeeded after all. She was not able to stop the sob that escaped her at that thought and at her miserable feeling.

"They said you should go to the hospital quickly. They didn't say anything about Greg. They only said that it was probably the water," Judy told her and Sara breathed out a sign of relief. They had not said anything about Greg. But no news was good news right now. She really needed to get to the hospital though.

"The water?" Sara tried to clarify. She had already suspected that. She needed to get out of here. She stood up weakly and flushed the toilet, before she walked out of the cubicle shaking.

Judy nodded. "That's what they said."

Sara did not feel well. She wondered how far she would actually make it, trembling as she was. She hated feeling this weak. She swayed and had to hold herself on the door of the cubicle.

"I'm going to call an ambulance," Judy said.

"No," Sara said. She was feeling bad, but she really did not want the agitation an ambulance would cause. And she really did not want to go in one. "I'm really… really not… could you drive me to the hospital please?" she asked.

Judy nodded. "Of course."

Sara was still shaking and Judy asked her somewhat doubtingly if she could walk. And Sara decided that she simply had to be able to.

"Yeah, I think so. It's… not that bad." Sara trembled.

She was glad when they had finally made it to Judy's car for now she could sit down. She was glad that her stomach seemed to have calmed down somewhat, unwilling to ruin Judy's car.

Unfortunately her body decided to get out the last rest of what was still inside her once they had arrived at the hospital.

It stopped after a few moments, but Sara guessed this was simply because nothing was left in her stomach anymore than she could vomit. She was still gagging though as if her body had not quite realized yet that it would bring out nothing anymore. Sara swayed and the dots that were dancing in front of her eyes multiplied until they combined to one bright wall that soon turned black. Sara could still hear sounds around her while she sank down weakly, unknowing what was actually happening.

One thing she knew was happening. She was losing consciousness. She didn't want to… But maybe it was better than feeling this sick… she just did not know how bad it was… she rather wanted to stay conscious, afraid of what would happen if she didn't…

She felt being lifted from the ground and heard more sounds around her, even though no comprehensible words got through the noise in her ears. She winced when she felt them pricking her skin with a needle, but was glad to still notice what was going on. She was at the hospital. They knew what they were doing. She would be alright. Greg had gotten sick out in the desert. He must have been so afraid. She had been, too.

She lay still and after a few minutes the agitation around her calmed down. It became quieter. Her stomach had become calmer as well, her breathing quieter and slower. And now Sara drifted off after all, although she still did not want to.

* * *

He should have listened closely. The doctor had said she was going to get some of the tubes out. This obviously implied that she would not get out all of them. Greg groaned. It was certainly annoying. He was feeling way better already, just a little weakened as if he had eaten something really bad. Well, he had drunken something really bad. And now it were these tubes that hindered him from going to look for Sara himself.

Of course, the doctor had promised him to go and check. Right after the nurse had promised him to go and check. Neither of them had returned yet, and while Greg could certainly forgive them, figuring their jobs were busy enough, it did not make him less impatient.

Judy had gone by now and Greg was left alone and worried. If he had not been confined to his bed, he would have gone on search for Sara himself, but as matters were he could only wait. He groaned. The more time passed, the more worried he grew. Judy had not sounded pessimistic and that had almost convinced him that Sara would be alright, but maybe Judy had estimated the situation wrongly. Greg could still vividly remember how bad he had felt some hours ago… Sara certainly did not feel better now. And what was if she had somehow ingested the majority of the poison? Maybe it had been at the bottom of the bottle and she had drunken the rest…

Greg's thoughts were running wild, when to his surprise Nick stuck his head through the door, entering the room on seeing Greg awake.

"Hey, Greggo."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Greg wanted to know. Nick seemed reasonable cheerful, so he did not need to worry, did he?

"Judy called me," Nick explained.

"She did?" Greg was surprised.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, she said she had to go home, but thought that somebody should go and look after you and Sara."

Greg looked at his friend pleadingly. "Do you know how Sara's doing?"

"I came straight to you," Nick answered avoiding. "I wanted to check on you first."

Greg let himself drop back on his bed. "Could everybody please stop looking after me and start checking on Sara, please?" he said irritated in his worry. Nick seemed a bit taken aback.

"I'll go and check on her right now," he told his friend.

Greg grumbled.

"What?" Nick asked.

"You're the third person who promises me that and I still haven't heard anything about Sara," Greg explained, looking at the ceiling, then sitting up and looking at Nick beseechingly. "Please, can you go and check and come right back? I mean, I just want to know. If she's alright and you want to talk to her that's okay, tell me she's alright and you can go to her again. If it's bad… I want to know, too. Seriously, this is driving me crazy."

"Ah, man, I'm sorry. I'll go and check and I'll be right back," Nick promised, and Greg suspected that he had almost added an assertion that Sara would be alright, but did not do it after all.

"I can't believe this happened," he said. "It was me who got the damn card…"

"What card?" Nick wanted to know, frowning at his friend in confusion now.

"I'll tell you later," Greg replied. "Sara. Now. Please."

Nick nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Greg behind unhappily. He had not given much thought to the card thing anymore, or to the case that was connected to it. His mind had been on different things. It was still on different things and he did not feel like pondering about the case now at all. If he knew that Sara would be alright, he could spend some thoughts on the case, maybe, keen to find out who was behind all of this, but right now, he could not think about it. He could imagine that anger would drive him, if Sara was in a bad condition, but he would certainly not be allowed to work the case anymore anyway.

He thought of other things that had been pushed to the back of his mind and he stopped looking at the door in expectation of somebody coming in, and lay down again, pulling the blanket up over his face. He felt more and more like hiding from the situation, more and more wishing he would wake up and everything was just a bad dream. If it had to be real, it could be so, but then he wanted to wake up and have Sara there, maybe worrying about him and happy he had woken up. It was a nice imagination.

Greg wished that Nick hurried up. His friend's return was made unnecessary though few minutes later, when the doctor who had treated Greg earlier and who had promised to check on Sara as well, hastened into Greg's room.

**TBC**


	11. Leaps

_**A/N: I can't believe it's been so long since the last update. **__**Gulp. I just looked at my profile page and saw that I have written 9 other stories in the meantime. lol I was way too distracted from this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter 10: Leaps  
**

Greg basically jumped when the woman came into the room.

"What's with Sara?" he asked urgently at her apparent hurry.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't come back earlier. It's a busy day," the doctor apologized. "Sara's doing okay. We need to give her some time, you needed some as well," she winked, as Greg smiled at her relieved.

"You're the first who's back at least," he said, grinning.

She looked at him questioningly.

"Three people promised me to check on Sara, and you're the first who actually came back, " he explained.

"Three? You're popular," she nodded towards him. "I think we should have you out of here soon enough though. Come in for a check-up tomorrow. I'll tell somebody to discharge you." With that she left almost as fast as she had come, but Greg was not long alone, as Nick walked into the room, not as hurried as the doctor before him, but quite as determined.

"Hey, Greg," he started. "Sara's doing okay."

Greg smiled at him, letting him finish his sentence. "I already know, but thanks."

Nick's shoulders slumped. "And what am I hurrying around for?" he asked, grimacing, but Greg could hear the joke in his voice. "What now?"

"I'll be out of here in a few," Greg replied, shrugging with a light grin on his face. "Well, out of _here,_" he motioned towards the room, "but not really out of here generally because then you can show me where Sara is."

Nick nodded. "Sure." After a moment he added doubtingly, "I'm not sure she's awake though. She was sleeping earlier."

"Ah, now she's sleeping," Greg shook his head. "Otherwise she never sleeps, and throws me out of bed early…" Greg kept babbling for most of the time while he was discharged, speaking in a light tone, but Nick knew him well enough to notice that his manner was not completely carefree, understandably.

Finally they went downstairs and learned there that Sara was indeed sleeping. Nick convinced Greg to go home for a couple of hours, and while Greg at first reluctantly agreed, Nick needed much effort to keep him from coming to the lab with him instead of going home. But Nick was persistent, and dropped off Greg at his and Sara's place.

Greg got out of the car unwillingly.

"You can go back to the hospital later," Nick reminded him.

"But I need to go to the lab," Greg started the same argument again. Nick knew that the investigation of the poisonings was on his mind.

"I'll tell you if we know something new," he offered calmingly. "You can't work on it anyway."

"I know." Greg still did not move to close the door of the car and walk inside the building.

Nick grimaced. "Sara won't be happy if her cat is starving while she's away," he said in a serious voice. Greg gave him a piercing look that he might have borrowed from Sara, but shut the door and walked off briskly.

Nick drove to the lab and had hardly entered the building when he was caught by Hodges.

"I heard about Sara," the lab tech started.

Nick nodded. "She'll be alright."

"I have her results," Hodges continued while Nick kept walking towards the locker room.

"And?"

"That's why I came to you," the other man stated.

Nick stopped now, looking sternly at the lab tech, who finally continued.

"I found traces of a salicylate in the bottle Sara gave me."

It confirmed what they had thought. Nick tried to remember what Greg had told him. As far as he knew, Greg had used two different bottles, but was not sure if something had been in both of them. Nick did not know where the first one was, so unless he went searching for it, they would never know. It would help them determining how the poison had come into the water, if they knew whether both had been contaminated or not.

He took the lab report from Hodges absentmindedly, and only managed to say a quick thanks before he marched off into the locker room. He needed to look into the vehicle Greg and Sara had used. Maybe there were more of those dangerous water bottles to find.

* * *

Greg entered his and Sara's apartment and was soon greeted by Sara's cat that came walking towards him quickly. He picked it up, stroking it briefly.

"Sara isn't here," he told the cat sadly.

It wriggled out of his arms, and headed into the kitchen. Greg followed. The cat walked up and down in front of the board that contained the cat food. Greg took it down and poured some of it into the cat's bowl. It was the only meat Sara bought voluntarily. Greg had teased her, asking if the cat was vegetarian, too. Greg smiled sadly, watching the animal eating greedily.

He left the kitchen, yawning, tempted to lie down. He still felt worn-out. It wasn't exactly surprising, and he was actually supposed to rest. What he rather wanted to do though, was to imitate the cat and walk up and down. Not in the kitchen, but in front of Sara's room, waiting for her to wake up. Greg checked his watch. He had promised Nick to stay at home and rest at least for a couple of hours.

So he did everything to keep this promise and dropped on the couch, closing his eyes immediately. He had already slept enough. A little bit more could not hurt though. Nick would certainly agree...

Greg woke up to a sound of smashing. He lifted his head, eying his surroundings. After the first daze was over, he looked around more carefully, wondering what had happened, or what was happening.

He did not see anything that could have caused the noise, so he stood up, still searching for the source of it. Up on the level of his eye he suddenly saw it. Sara's cat was balancing on top of a shelf where Greg had put the cat food earlier. Originally on the shelf had been a bowl in that Sara had stored several onions. Both onions and bowl were on the floor now, the bowl in fragments. Greg sighed and grabbed the cat, putting in onto the floor as well.

"It's time Sara comes back and tells you a few things. But I guess you'll just be all nice and cuddly then and nothing will happen."

Greg went to clean the mess up, while the cat had started to play with the onions.

Greg had just thrown the rests of the bowl into the trash, when his cell phone started to ring. He didn't recognize the number.

"Sanders," he answered it.

It was Sara calling from the hospital. She was blasting questions at him, so that Greg had hardly time to tell her that he was glad that she was awake and apparently okay.

"Oh, I'm killing your cat," he replied to her question what he was doing. "Just kidding," he added hastily after a moment. "No, she's happily playing around with onions. Your bowl is gone though." Greg left the kitchen on his way out of the apartment. "No, I'm not talking in riddles. And I'm on my way. I'll be there in a few."

He was out of the place in a few seconds, still talking to Sara on the phone, until he got into his car and ended the conversation with the renewed promise to be at the hospital soon. During the drive he got a call from Nick who was still at the lab. Nick was about to reproach him for not resting, when Greg told him that he had slept a bit, and more important, that he was on the way to Sara as she had called him. Nick was glad to hear that Sara had called and said that he planned to come by later as well.

When Greg walked into Sara's room he noticed that she looked worse than she had sounded on the phone. She had appeared energetic enough then, but now he saw that she looked sick and languid. She smiled though when she caught sight of him and he hugged her.

"That's no way to keep me company," he said softly. "I'm already out of here anyway."

"It wasn't on purpose," Sara replied, and he kissed her on her forehead. It felt hot.

Greg sat back. "How are you feeling?"

"Crappy," she shrugged. "They say it will take a bit until it's all out of my system."

Greg nodded, taking her hands into his. They were cold, as opposed to her forehead. "Do you know what happened?" he asked.

"I drank the same water like you," she nodded. "When I was at the lab, I gave the bottle to Hodges, before I started feeling bad. I didn't know what the source was then, so I gave him the envelope you had gotten, too."

"Do you think this is connected to it?"

"How many people would try to kill you?" Sara asked seriously.

"Can we be sure that I was the target?" Greg looked down at her hands, squeezing them lightly.

"It was your water, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'd bought the box yesterday." After a moment he added, "Nick is taking care of it. He'll find out how it was done. You don't need to worry about it."

Sara half-smiled. "I like to worry about it. It's my job."

"Then don't think of work all the time." He smiled back.

"I can't help it."

They were alone for a few more minutes, before there was a knock on the door, and finally Nick stuck his head into the room. He smiled broadly, when he saw both Sara and Greg. He came in and closed the door behind himself.

"It's good to have both of you awake again," he said seriously, but with a smile. He gave Sara a hug and watched her closely.

Before he could say anything more, Sara had already started. "Did you look into our car? The one we used to get to the scene? There were more water bottles in the trunk. I think they're poisoned, too."

Nick nodded. "I found an almost full box of bottles. I brought them to tox."

Greg looked at him seriously. "I don't understand it. I bought that box yesterday. I can't imagine how anybody could have manipulated it."

All three of them pondered about this. Greg was about to protest again that Sara should not worry about it, but rather rest, when she spoke again.

"I think they exchanged either a bottle or the box. More likely the box because they couldn't know which bottle Greg would take first."

"When did this happen? The car was at the lab. And how could they have known what brand I buy? If there'd been a different brand in there, I would have grown very suspicious," Greg pointed out, accepting that Sara would take part in the discussion anyway.

Sara looked at him intensively, as if she thought that he knew what was on her mind.

"They watched you," she said quietly.

**TBC**


	12. Tactics

_**A/N: Happy Birthday to this story...**_

**Chapter 11: Tactics**

Greg had left Sara at the hospital, reluctantly, but with the promise to return later that day before he would go to work. Nick had been about to protest against this scheme, but as Greg had also promised Sara to keep her up-to-date about the case, Nick had had no choice other than to agree to Greg coming in to the lab, or else he would have risked Sara getting the idea that she should stop by if only to get some news. Sara hoped to go home already when Greg would come by again later, but Nick wasn't so sure about the probability of this, seeing her decided paleness and apparent weakness, an observation he did not dare to voice though.

On his way home, Nick still pondered over the question he, Sara and Greg had discussed at the hospital as well. How had it been managed that the water bottles Greg had bought had been manipulated? They didn't know yet if really all of them were contaminated or if it was only the one Greg had taken, but it was highly unlikely that only one of them was. The tox results would tell about that in time. A whole different question was if the bottles were actually those Greg had originally bought. He had confirmed that it had been the brand he had purchased, but it was by no means certain that it was actually the same box. It was much more likely that the whole box had been exchanged. When and how this had happened was a mystery.

Nick was just walking into his house when he decided that he needed some questions answered directly, unwilling to wait until he was back at the lab. He pulled out his phone, and called Greg's number, figuring that he should be at home as well.

"Greg?"

"Nick, what's up?"

Nick could hear the closing of a door in the background. Greg had apparently just arrived at home, too, as he had guessed.

"When you bought the water, did you put it into your trunk directly or did you leave it standing around somewhere?" Nick asked, walking into his kitchen, not really knowing what he actually wanted to do there as his mind was elsewhere.

"Uh, it was just a quick stop at that store. I picked up the water and some cat food for Sara's cat. I paid and put the stuff into the car. I left the water in my trunk and before Sara and I left, I took it out and put it into the SUV's trunk... but I didn't leave the case out of my eyes."

"Yeah." Nick stared at the calendar that was hanging in his kitchen and realized that it was still showing the previous month. He wasn't at home often enough. "I'm just trying to understand how they could do it," he explained Greg his question.

"I know."

"And when did you drink the first bottle?"

"I drank one on the drive. When we arrived at the scene I took the second, that one, you know," Greg paused briefly. "It's following you home, isn't it?" he asked his friend. "When have you slept the last time?"

"Don't worry about me," Nick returned, but could hardly suppress a yawn, and guessed that Greg was right. "Okay, Greggo, get some rest as well, before you go bothering Sara again," he said with a smile.

"Sure," Greg chuckled.

Nick was about to shut off the call, when another idea entered his mind. "Greg, wait," he called, hoping to stop Greg in time from ending the call.

"What?"

"At the scene, how many bottles were missing from the case?"

Greg was silent for a moment. "One," he said finally. "I guess," he added after a moment.

"You guess?"

"Well, I took out one, so one would have been missing, wouldn't it?"

Nick walked up and down in his kitchen. "That's the point. Was really one missing or was it a full case?"

Greg pondered about it, unable to remember clearly. "I can't tell. I wasn't really paying attention. I was joking with Sara and all..."

"Yeah, I understand."

"You should know though," Greg pointed out. "You brought the case to tox."

Nick had to admit that Greg was right, and tried to remember what he had seen. "I think there was one bottle missing, Greg."

"Well, then you have it," his friend stated seriously. "Something is wrong there."

"Why?" Nick asked slightly confused, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"There should be two missing. I took one for the drive and one at the scene."

--

Sara had been convinced that there was nothing left in her to get sick from. But once again she was whipping off her mouth now, while her throat was burning from the disgusting fluid that had made its way up from her stomach in lack of anything more substantial being left in there. Seeing that she couldn't hold anything down, they had put another IV on her, the need of which greatly reduced her chances of going home tonight.

Sara was disappointed, but felt crappy enough to not voice it too loudly. She laid back down, rolling on her side, and tried to get some sleep in hopes to be fitter when Greg would return later. At the same time her thoughts were still running around the question why this was affecting her more than it had affected Greg. It had hit him quickly and intense, but he had recovered quickly as well. More than one person had stated that it might be because she had gotten a higher concentration that had collected at the bottom of the water bottle. Also, there had more time elapsed before she had come to the hospital, it had had more time to take effect on her, while Greg's symptoms had started quickly out in the desert.

She managed to drift off to sleep, but it was an uneasy rest, as she felt as if she was right in the heat of the desert herself, as much as her body seemed to heat up now. She was about to try to shake off the blanket, when the touch of a hand on her face brought rather uncomfortable coldness in the first moment. She flinched and opened her eyes.

"Oh, sorry," Greg uttered quietly. Sara blinked, and sat up arduously. She was shuddering now, guessing that she was actually running a fever. A soapy taste had replaced the acid burning from earlier.

Greg looked at her dismayed. "Why aren't you getting better?"

"I don't know."

Greg laid his hand against her forehead, but she moved up her own hand, taking his away, unwilling that he knew how hot she actually was.

"I'm afraid I can't come home with you as much as I want."

He watched her with a sad expression, and Sara sighed. Somehow she had hoped to make him laugh, or smile, or whatever, with her statement, but it didn't work. She tried to come up with something to reach the desired result, but she wasn't good at this. He was the one who was good at it.

She tried to smile, laying her arm around his neck, pulling him towards her. She hoped that she didn't have the flu even though she felt as if she had a hefty version of it, as she pressed her lips against his. It didn't really make her feel better all that much, but it was still nice. She let go of him and sank back into her cushion.

"Don't be so silent, Greg," she said, adding, when he still didn't react, "It's frightening."

"I'm sorry." Finally he smiled.

"Tell me something," she demanded.

He looked at her doubtingly.

"Did you and Nick get any farther?"

"How do you-?"

"You don't think I don't know that you and Nick wouldn't let it go?"

Greg smiled at her sheepishly now, nodding. "We think they exchanged the whole box," he said, turning more serious again.

"When?"

"At the scene."

Sara looked perplexed. "How...? I mean, we were there..."

Greg shrugged. "I have no idea. I guess I didn't pay attention. It's kind of crazy though."

"Yeah, but as I said, I think they watched you and waited for an opportunity."

It still didn't explain it, and Greg knew that they would need to look closer into it. Nevertheless he nodded slowly, and took in Sara's worried expression.

"Be careful, Greg."

"I will." He kissed her on the forehead, realizing that he had to leave if he wanted to be on time. He stood up, but Sara stopped him.

"I don't think you should go to work. If you feel half as bad as..."

"I feel fine," he said quickly.

"You should get some rest."

Greg wondered whether Sara was now concerned about him getting enough rest or about him going to work when he was possibly still followed.

"At home I'm going to be alone," he pointed out, daring to guess on the latter.

"That was unfair, Greg," Sara said slightly annoyed, clearly seeing through his tactics. He smiled at her apologetically.

"I'm going to work, I'm going to take care, and I'm going to be back here in the morning," he promised, giving her another kiss. "And you're going to feel better."

She nodded and Greg left, remembering Sara's plan to take a few days off and go somewhere together. This was certainly not the kind of leave Sara had had in mind. It made Greg's list of things to do only longer. He'd go to work, pester everybody until they solved the case, make sure that Sara got better, do some things for her... he had to admit though that not all of these things were really in his power, as much as he wanted them to be.

**TBC**


	13. Games

_**A/N: Wah! I really thought this fic would never end (although it's not even my longest by far). But it's finished now! One more, already written, chapter to follow after this!**_

* * *

**Chapter 12: Games**

The pestering part was not really working well. Greg was frustrated. As much as he wanted to tell his co-workers repeatedly to get along on the case, he knew all too much that evidence would not simply pop up just because he wanted it. While Greg had been jumping around Nick for a few minutes, maybe hoping to make him hurry (and successful) after all, Grissom had walked into the situation and had pointed out that Nick would not find the solution faster with Greg around, and gave Greg the choice between doing some filing or going home.

Deep down Greg was convinced that Grissom had only wanted to find somebody to do the filing for him, as he was now shuffling papers grumpily. Grissom knew him well enough to figure that he would not choose to go home. He wasn't Sara, not quite at least. He wasn't somebody to stay at the lab just because he had nothing else to do, or because he was all too engrossed in his work, but he really did not feel like doing something else, as his concern for Sara would not allow him to relax, which therefore came too close to having nothing else to do, and he really needed to know what exactly had happened. He needed to know it, and he needed to get some control over the situation.

Looking at the files in front of him bored, he tried to remember the items of his to-do-list. Maybe he would not feel as helpless, if he took care of another thing on the list, seeing that he was not able to help on the case, or could really do anything to help the investigation along. 

He was at work. It did not help. Solving the case? Not in his hands. Making Sara get better? Not in his hands either. He could go back to the hospital in the morning and try and cheer her up, but honestly, he needed some cheering up himself, he thought, as he eyed Grissom walking past the glass wall of the office wearily.

Suddenly he jumped up, leaving scattered papers behind which he would have to order later on, and followed Grissom. He called after him, and his boss stopped and turned around, an expression on his face that for once even seemed to tell the thoughts behind it, as Greg guessed that he was about to remind the younger man again that no, he could not help Nick on the case. But this wasn't what Greg wanted to ask.

"Could Sara and I take a few days off? I mean, if the lab's really swamped I could understand if not, but seriously, it's always swamped..." His enthusiasm on his newfound initiative was maybe taking him too far, or made him talking too fast, as Grissom only frowned in response. Greg was about to continue, but Grissom stopped him when he finally responded verbally.

"Sara is on medical leave." Grissom pointed at him. "And you are as well." 

"Right."

"Greg," Grissom said somewhat more gently. "Even now you're at the lab." Now, when Greg could have the day off. When he had the day off actually, but was doing occupational therapy, filing papers. "And I have told Sara repeatedly to take some time off," Grissom added. Only to be bothered with the same question in response.

Greg nodded, although he had not really received an answer to his question. He turned around and was halfway on the way back to Nick where was working when he realized that there was really no point in it. He dismissed the idea of bothering Hodges as well, and decided to go to Judy instead, feeling that a few more thanks were certainly appropriate. Besides, Judy usually liked hearing about his antics, so he could maybe cheer at least one person up.

Judy was on the phone when Greg walked up to her. He waved and she lifted her head in return of the greeting while she took notes of something the person on the phone was telling her. Greg leaned against the wall next to where she was working, and waited for the phone conversation to be finished. His apparently relaxed position, ready for a talk with the receptionist, reminded him a lot of the days when he used to chit-chat with the other lab techs, sometimes until Grissom intervened, reminding him that he was at work. Now Grissom had acted quite the opposite way towards him, of course because of the completely changed circumstances. Still, the thought made Greg grimace, and he did not even notice at first that Judy had finished her talk by now, and was looking at him expectantly. 

"How are you doing? How is Sara?" she asked once she knew she had his attention back. 

"I'm fine. Kind of... Sara... she's getting better." He smiled, adding, 'I hope,' privately. 

"I'm glad." 

"Thanks for your help again," Greg said friendly. 

"You're welcome." Judy smiled back at him and when she spoke the next time, her voice had dropped to a whisper. "What did Mr. Grissom say? I saw you talking and..." 

Greg grinned at her, realizing that she had a good look at a lot of what was happening in these corridors. "I asked him if I and Sara could have a few days off," he told her.

"Oh, but... What did he say?"

Greg laughed shortly. "He didn't really answer me, said that we're on medical leave anyway."

"But you're here."

"Yeah," Greg said with a sigh. "You know I can't help on the case and-" he paused. "They didn't even give me another case..." He rolled his eyes, giving her a look and Judy nodded knowingly. At this moment the phone rang and Judy answered it, leaving Greg to himself for the moment. Judy was finished quickly though and turned back to Greg curiously. 

"Do you have any idea how they could've... slipped you... you know what?" she asked in the same quiet tone she had used earlier. 

"We think they changed the water I had in the trunk," Greg said, wondering then if it was smart to discuss this question there at the reception of the lab, remembering another thing Sara had guessed. '_They watched you.' _He turned around semi-consciously, but saw only two lab techs talking in the distance and nobody else nearby. Judy looked puzzled when he turned back to her. "I can't really talk about the case. I'm not on it anymore, you know..." 

She nodded. "I understand." 

"Did you ever consider making a prank call?" Greg asked now. Judy laughed at his sudden change of topic.

"No, of course not."

"I didn't think so," Greg admitted smiling.

* * *

Nick saw Greg talking to Grissom in the hallway, and finally walking away. He shook his head, hoping that Greg would finally go and get some rest. He knew all too well that Greg would have preferred to assist him. 

After Greg had left, he had finally pulled out several case files again, all those cases Sara and Greg had previously connected to the case at hand, although they had not been sure how many were really linked to it. He was mulling over those files, when David Hodges made his entrance.

"What do you have?" Nick asked him directly, hoping to avoid any great preludes. 

"All of them were contaminated," Hodges declared, holding results under Nick's nose. 

"All bottles?" Nick nodded to himself while Hodges confirmed it as well. "I expected that. They really wanted to make sure..." 

"I don't understand-" Hodges started.

"Neither do I," Nick said frowning, once again shaking his head. 

"Why Greg? And how?" the other man specified.

"I know how," Nick replied grimly, pointing towards the empty box on the table. "I found a lot of prints on the box, but not Greg's. He didn't touch it. They substituted it for the one Greg bought."

Hodges nodded. "Sometime after Greg put it into the trunk."

"So unless they broke into the car when it was in the garage, it happened at the scene. That's also what Greg thought, and we're pretty sure it happened there because they made the mistake that they didn't remove one bottle. Greg had already taken one out earlier, so it should've been one less left in there." 

Hodges nodded again and Nick was silent, pondering about the questions. Hodges stayed and apparently did not intend to leave, as Nick noticed slightly irritated after a few minutes. Instead the other man was watching him curiously. 

"So let's sum it up... we nailed somebody for the case where the guy was hit over the head, and the drowning case ... in both cases the victims had a death card in their possession, in one case in an envelope. There's at least one more case – a shooting – where such a card recently turned up. But we can't link our suspect to it," Nick stopped, glancing over the case files again.

"And Greg got a card," Hodges stated the obvious.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, and then somebody tried to kill – or at least hurt - him. If he'd drunk that bottle alone, or even more than one, the dose could've been enough to kill him."

"They watched him so they got an opportunity to exchange the box."

"Yeah, you're right," Nick confirmed him, remembering what Sara had already guessed earlier. "They also needed to watch him to know the brand of water in the first place. Greg would've noticed if it had been a different one, of course."

"It's sounds like more than one person to me," the trace tech suggested.

"To me, too. The guy we have in custody is maybe only of several perps in the game."

Hodges smirked. "A game."

Nick almost laughed. "With cards." 

**TBC**


	14. Notes

_**A/N: I ended this on a different note than I had originally planned, but it had been going on for way too long. **_

_**Thanks for reading.  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 13: Notes**

Sometime in the early morning hours Greg had finally gone home. He felt exhausted and tired, knowing that he shouldn't be as it was still in the middle of his normal working hours, but he could not help it and fell into his bed, barely undressed and was soon fast asleep. He woke up what felt only few minutes later, not knowing why, but turned around and managed to fall asleep again, even though it was a lighter sleep now that was more disturbed by dreams. He knew this was the case when he slept at times when he should not really be sleeping according to his schedule and his brain seemed to remind him subconsciously of that.

The next time he woke up to the sound of what was clearly the front door falling into its lock. Greg sat up confusedly, blinking into the blinding morning light that was streaming into the bedroom, as he had forgotten to pull down the blinds. He could hear steps coming from the other room to which the bedroom door was open a crack.

Greg was not even halfway out of bed, when the door was opened completely. Greg blinked again, this time in surprise, as Sara came into the room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked directly.

Sara smirked. "I live here. And hello to you, too."

Greg got up now, shooting another question. "Why didn't you call me?"

Sara shrugged, sitting down at the other side of the bed. "It wasn't necessary."

Greg sunk onto the bed again. "How are you doing? You weren't exactly feeling great last night."

Sara smiled a small smile. "I'm doing okay. After they'd done their check this morning, they said I can go home. I guess they knew I wasn't very keen to stay," she explained. Greg nodded, watching her, and felt a little lost. Sara looked at him questioningly. "What's wrong? You're usually not lost for words."

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired."

"But?"

"I didn't say but."

"But?"

"You confuse me," he complained which caused a big smile from her side. She got up and walked over to him, sitting down next to him.

"Did Nick call you?"

Greg shook his head. "I think he's trying to solve the case without us," he said in a serious voice.

"Do you think that's possible?" Sara asked with lifted eyebrows and a smirk.

"If he tries hard."

Sara went to soak in the bath tube afterwards and Greg used the time to do some things around the apartment. It was during this time that Nick finally called. Greg rushed to his phone when it started ringing loudly, causing the cat to flee to the other side of the room.

"Nick?" Greg asked breathlessly, having not even taken the time to read the screen.

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, we think that a whole group of people is involved in the cards case. There could be several people who are watching you."

"You think they're still watching me?" Greg asked, sitting down and glancing at the door to the bathroom from where Sara had not emerged yet.

"We don't know that, but you should be careful. Sara, too."

"I'll tell her," Greg said, sighing.

"We're working on it," Nick assured him now. "We'll get them." Even after he had ended the call, Greg wondered who the "we" were Nick was talking about. As far as he knew, Nick was working the case alone, after Sara and Greg had been taken off it.

* * *

David Hodges seemed very eager. He had carried a large board into the room and had subsequently started to draw lines on it, watched curiously by Nick.

"So," he said finally, pointing at a field drawn on the board, while Nick saw that Hodges' drawing skills weren't very well developed, but chose to be silent on that point. It was not like he could draw a straight line himself.

"They sent the death card to a chosen person," Hodges explained, following a line with his pen. "The future victim does or does not know what it means, we don't know about that."

"It's not unlikely they know about it. Or at least they might know their killer. Mitchell was drowned in his bath tube, I can't see him letting somebody in the house he didn't know while he was taking a bath. On the other hand, it could've been a forced entry, but we didn't find any signs of that," Nick added.

Hodges turned to the board again.

"The killer gets a considerable amount of money on the day after the murder."

Nick nodded. "I checked the account of the guy we have in custody. He got more than 20K twice in the last month."

"But he's not doing it professionally," Hodges clarified.

"No, the MO isn't looking like it."

Hodges pointed at another field on the board. "Murder number three, or number one chronically: No apparent connection to the other cases, apart from the card."

Now Nick shook his head. "We've been getting nowhere with this one."

"So we have the theory that it is a game. There's a flow of money after every kill." Hodges drew a line to the third field.

"We know neither the source nor where it went in the third case," Nick pointed out.

Hodges smiled a thin smile. "We do. It's the same source as in the other two cases, if the source is a group that is considering this a game."

"You're right," Nick admitted, browsing a case file again.

"But what about Greg?" Hodges asked.

"They knew he's working on the case, wanted to scare him maybe... But they needed somebody who could come close enough on the scene to exchange the box..." Nick looked at the trace tech seriously.

"If somebody in LVPD is involved in that club, it's not going to be pretty," Hodges voiced Nick's thoughts.

"You having any CSI aspirations?" This case was not over by any means, and Nick guessed that they would not get to the people behind it all too soon. They would have to find evidence to confirm their theory, as strange as it sounded now, but Nick had the feeling that they were on the right track.

* * *

Sara stayed at home for the next couple of days, but only because Greg had successfully reasoned with her that she had wanted that trip they'd do together after all, and that there was no point getting involved into any cases now that would hurt her to leave behind later on, when she finally took the long overdue vacation. So she had agreed to actually use the medical leave and not return to work for the three days until they planned to go out of the city.

On the third day, or night, while Greg was still at work, Sara was busy packing a few things for the trip, and rummaged around her closet. She pulled out a few of her lighter shirts and with them a piece of paper. She picked it up curiously.

"_I love you. Greg."_

She smiled and continued packing her bag, until her cat started complaining, cuddling around her legs in hopes to persuade Sara to pay attention to her, or give her food, or whatever the cat wanted at that moment. Sara knelt down and put the cat on her knees, while she pulled out a drawer with the other hand to retrieve some socks. With them she eventually brought out another piece of paper. Shaking her head slightly, she read it.

"_Love you a lot. Greg."_

"Isn't he silly?" Sara asked her cat. Instead of an answer the animal jumped from her knees and walked off into the kitchen. After she had zipped up her bag, Sara followed her and took down the pack of cat food. It was almost empty so she opened the cupboard to take out a new pack. Balanced on top of the pack she found another piece of paper.

"_Greg loves Sara."_

"How old is he again?" Sara wondered, rolling her eyes, but chuckling. At this moment she heard the turning of the keys in the lock of the front door, and walked towards it, leaning slightly against the wall in the hall to wait for Greg. He came into the apartment and she greeted him, waving the three notes in her hand lightly.

"You found them," he said. At least he had the decency to blush.

"That's because I packed," Sara pointed out with a smile. "You have thirty minutes. Then I want to be out of here."

Greg nodded eagerly, but was interrupted briefly when Sara gave him a gently kiss, before he marched off into the bedroom to pack as well.

Sara was happy when they had finally let the bustling city behind them and were now looking on miles and miles of nearly clear road in front of them. She smiled to herself, turning her head then to look at Greg. She knew what she had to do. Greg was maybe too shy for it, or did not believe that she wanted to share her whole life with him. Besides, Sara hold the opinion that it could be very well her who would take the initiative. So, she would ask him sometime on this trip. She was sure it would make him happy.

Sara grabbed her sunglasses with one hand, the other on the wheel, and set them on her nose, as the sun was going up and its light was glazing more and more into the car. Greg was leaning back, amusing her with his never-ending comments on the road, other cars, the landscape, the sun, the fact that she was driving, and was only interrupted when his cell phone started ringing.

Greg answered it, glancing at Sara. He'd already seen on the display that it was Nick.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Have you already asked her?" Nick inquired directly, and Greg laughed, much to Sara's slight, but amused, confusion.

**The End**


End file.
